we're accidentally in love
by randomgirl1200
Summary: What happens when the most unpopular girl in school Rachel Berry and obnoxious jock Noah Puckerman get thrown together as Science project partners by coincidence? A series of accidental encounters that leave them in love, whether they know it or not. PR.


**TITLE/ **we're accidentally in love

**PAIRING(S)/ **puck&rachel endgame, with a side of finn&rachel, puck&quinn, finn&quinn and faberry friendship

**SUMMARY/ **What happens when Rachel Berry, the most unpopular girl in school, and Noah Puckerman, an obnoxious jock, get thrown together as Science project partners by a coincidence? A series of accidents that leave them hopelessly in love with each other, whether they know it or not.

**DISCLAIMER/ **_*yawns*_ Yeah, I'm kinda tired of writing this, but I DISCLAIM GLEE! And also Accidentally in Love by Counting Crows and The Story of Us by Taylor Swift.

**NOTES/ **Was feeling particularly inspired yesterday and today, so I spent these two days writing this, b/c I know how it feels to be unpopular in high school like Rachel :( and I love Puckleberry :). Srsly, Rachel becomes a much weaker character whenever she's around Finn and she never can have ANY storylines apart from him, which really annoys me. And the little PR scenes we get has really intrigued me to see what will happen with Puck and Rachel in season 3, if anything happens at ALL, since Finchel (gag!) have gotten back together AGAIN. :|

I think this chapter is set in episode 1.02 Showmance, and I will incorporate some of the show's storylines into the story, such as Rachel's crush on Finn and Quinn's pregnancy.

This is my first attempt at a multi-chaptered Glee fic and I know it's nowhere as epic as many stories on this site, but please review? _pleeeeeaaaaaaaase? _:D

P.S. Story title is from the song Accidentally in Love by Counting Crows and chapter title is from the awesome song The Story of Us by Taylor Swift.

**1. the story of us looks a lot like a tragedy now**

Rachel Berry was the most unpopular girl in school, so it was the no surprise to her when no one wanted to be her lab partner. But with Mr. Collins standing with her in front of the class, the _whole _class, with all the jocks and the cheerleaders snickering at her, asking if anyone was willing to have her as a Science project partner, Rachel couldn't help but feel embarrassed. It was times like these that she had to remind herself she was going to be a huge Broadway star, and that a little humiliation in high school didn't matter in the slightest. And she held her head up high, choosing to stare at a lizard slowly climbing up the wall instead of looking at her classmates' smirking expressions.

Then, someone came into the room, _forty-five_ minutes late for class. Rachel felt relieved that the focus was off her since all eyes were on the latecomer.

Noah Puckerman simply sauntered over to his seat and plunked his schoolbag down, receiving a few high-fives from fellow football players and more than a few adoring glances from girls.

"Mr. Puckerman? Care to explain the reason for your tardiness?" Mr. Collins stuttered a little. He may have been more than half Puck's age, but naturally the tiny, mild-mannered teacher would be afraid of the six foot teenager sporting a mohawk and an annoyed expression.

"I would explain, 'cept I don't know what the hell 'tardiness' means," Puck replied, giving Mr. Collins a challenging look.

"I know what tardiness means," Rachel immediately announced. She always liked to be helpful to fellow schoolmates, even if they were obnoxious football players who greeted her at school every morning with an ice-cold slushie like Noah Puckerman. "It's a noun describing the quality or habit of not adhering to a correct or usual or expected time," Rachel rattled off quickly, flushing a little afterwards and feeling out of breath.

There was a moment of silence when everyone exchanged astonished looks that Rachel Berry was _still_ talking, then Dave Karofsky, someone Rachel recognized from her daily slushie facials, yelled out, "Shut up Barbara Straysand! We don't need to hear that!"

Rachel's cheeks reddened even more in fury that someone would mock her idol, "It's Streisand, you idiot!" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Finn Hudson whispering to Dave to stop harassing her and she smiled widely. Finn really was such a nice boy. After sharing that kiss in the auditorium, Rachel was disappointed that he still went back to Quinn Fabray, his girlfriend. But why would he pick her over Quinn? she thought bitterly. Quinn was the head cheerleader, she was blonde and beautiful and she had it all, including Finn Hudson.

But Rachel quickly cheered up, telling herself that while Quinn was a straight-As student and had a pretty voice, she was nowhere as talented as Rachel was. She decided that one day Finn would realize that Quinn was all wrong for him and he would come to her. All she could do now was wait and do her best to try and seduce Finn. Because Rachel Berry always got what she wanted, whether or not there was a big blonde beautiful obstacle in the way named Quinn Fabray.

"Since you're late Mr. Puckerman," Mr. Collins was saying in a squeaky voice, "I'm afraid you don't have a partner for your project yet."

"He can be with us, we'll just be a group of three!" Finn called out from the table where he and his girlfriend were sitting.

Mr. Collins shook his head quickly, "Actually, it's quite fortunate that you were late today, I may say. Since you and Miss Berry both have no partners for the project, you can be paired together. It's really quite a fortunate coincidence."

Puck scowled at her and Rachel quickly looked away.

Fortunate? It was anything but.

xxx

While Rachel wasn't exactly ecstatic to be paired together with Noah Puckerman, she supposed she could've done worse, like Jacob Ben Israel, who happened to have a dark, unhealthy obsession with her.

Still, she felt a bit uneasy approaching his locker. She mostly tried to keep her contact with Noah Puckerman to a minimum, though surprisingly this wasn't that easy to do. The population of Lima, Ohio was very small, so the Jewish community was even smaller, with around fifteen families who met up once a week. They were both members of the Glee club too, though Rachel still couldn't figure out why he was there, since he never or talent in singing and dancing.

Despite the many occasions where they saw each other, they hardly ever interacted, unless you counted him throwing slushies at her "interacting", so Rachel had researched extensively on the subject of how to make a new friend at the school library during the lunch break before finally gathering the courage to go up to him. Rachel felt silly that she was so nervous about talking to a boy, but something about Noah Puckerman just seemed so unapproachable and unfeeling. Sighing, Rachel walked up to him and gave him her signature, bright smile. ("How to make new friends" book tip number one: always greet a stranger with a smile.)

At first, she noticed a hint of surprise in his eyes, then he just went back to looking bored and surveyed her with an air of disinterest.

"You may be pondering to yourself why I am talking to you, which is a very reasonable thought since we never speak to each other and you bully me mercilessly, but I think that despite this, we have a lot more in common than you think, given the fact that we're both Jews, we're both Glee club members and we share most of the same classes and the same lunch period too," she said happily, following the "How to make new friends" book tip number two: try to find common ground with them. She racked her brains for tip number three, then finally remembered it: initiate conversation to lay a basis to a friendship. Rachel decided to cut straight to the point, "I think we have great potential to be good friends."

Puck lifted a slushie in the air threateningly, "Why the hell would I wanna be friends with _you_? Why would _anyone_ wanna be friends with you?"

Rachel swallowed and tried not to feel hurt, "Considering we're partners for our Science project, I'd say co-operating well would definitely make us working together more pleasant for both of us."

Puck chuckled and shook his head, "Oh, we are _not_ gonna be working together."

"But this is a term project that counts for forty percent of our final grade and I _refuse_ to get anything less than an A for it!" Rachel cried out indignantly.

"We're not gonna get anything less than an A," Puck smiled knowingly.

"Oh and why is _that_?" Rachel said with an attitude.

"'Cause _you're_ gonna do all the work," Puck replied tauntingly and laughed cruelly as Rachel closed her eyes while he threw another ice-cold slushie in her face.

Rachel walked away, willing herself not to cry and turn back.

It was a pity because if she did, she would have seen Puck watching her walking to the bathroom with an interested albeit mostly confused expression on his face.


End file.
